Initially, being inactive on this page was easy to explain away. The chaos that comes with moving across state lines and feeling settled with life back in the northeast took over. Every now and then an idea of what to write about that complemented an image from my Project365 simmered in my thoughts. But the longer the gap since I last wrote, the more I put pressure on myself to share some big epiphany.
The simple truth is that I wasn’t quite ready to leave Charlotte, so the journey I’ve been on to be at peace with life in New Jersey has been emotionally complicated. I didn’t want to write about all that, and anything else felt trivial. I’ll also never forget a recent conversation with a resident in my town who quipped, “Do you know where the grocery store is yet?” It was a lighthearted attempt at acknowledging that my family is still relatively new to town, five years later. Folks here have very deep roots, which challenges my introverted nature.
This image returns to my thoughts all the time, though. Captured in May 2021, I was teaching Sophia about seedlings. When we sowed new tomato varieties the month prior, we used two-three seeds in each pellet to serve as a guarantee that at least one would germinate. But in this moment, she learned that once true leaves start to take shape, the weaker seedling must be trimmed away so that the stronger of the two may thrive.
A visual metaphor for all the choices that have pushed me to figure my stuff out.